Dr. Bilal Philips
CELEBRATING ST. VALENTINE’S DAY
The yearly globalized celebration of love with its ritual circulation of greeting cards, flowers, exalting the color red, and exchanging presents in honour and respect for free love is completely against Islamic teachings.
Its prohibition is not merely because of its 4th festival held in honour of the Roman god Lupercus, in whose honour an annual lottery on the 13-15 of February was held to distribute young women among young men for "entertainment and pleasure," although this fact alone is enough to prohibit it. Nor is it because of its Christian adaptation in honour of St. Valentine, worshiped by Catholics as the lover’s saint, although this concept of shirk alone is also sufficient to make it forbidden. Nor is it due to the use of pagan symbols of Cupid, the Roman god of desire, erotic love, and affection, portrayed as a little boy with a bow, whose arrows pierce hearts and overwhelms them with uncontrollable desire.
It is primarily forbidden because it promotes and glorifies sexual abandon and licentiousness in the name of the divinely granted emotional gift of love. While love in the Islamic context is expressed in a balanced way, beginning with the love of God, love of family and love of society—each having its own rights and duties. This moderate view puts love in its proper context, benefiting everyone all year long and not just confined to a commercialized crazy day of ritualized romantic chaos in the name of love. —Dr. Bilal Philips
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